binman

This is exactly right. He is in his second year of AFL football (having in his first year played at a dysfunctional club with poor development and recovering from hip surgery). He is tracking just fine. It is a relatively modern phenomenon to expect young players to come in and be AFL ready straight away (and get all hand wringingly nervous when they don't). Some can't and some can. But look at how the good clubs develop their young players - the swans, cats, hawks. All get the grounding and development they need. And if this means lots of games in the twos then so be it. In short all are properly developed according to their own needs and where they are at. Roos has made it clear that this is precisely his philosophy. Heck you can see his approach writ large in the current Swans team - a team whose list and culture has been shaped by Roos and Longmire has continued to build on. I have said before but the Wines comparisons are a furpphy (not to mention a complete waste of time given we can't go back). Why compare the Toump to only Wines - or indeed to Wines at all. Whose to say it was a case of either the Toump or Wines for the dees? The bulldogs rejected Wines and took Jake Stringer and Jackson MCrae with picks 5 and 6 - as we might have - before Port picked Wines at 7. Why not compare the Toump's to how they are going. Hell why not compare his progress to any of the other say picks 4-15 we might have taken if we had wanted - or for that matter picks 1,2 and 3 that GWS had (who don't seem to be copping any criticism for not taking Wines). When you do look at it with some balance and not with the i love Wines goggles you can see the Toump is tracking fine when compared with his peers. Interesting that when you do so you there are players like: Vlasutin who was awesome last year but slowed a bit, Daniher who was dropped this week and Troy Menzel who only played 8 games last year and has only been ok thus far in his 8 games this year (averging 44 dt points). Here's the list

Good read. Could well be a response to DL posters, such as myself, who called for Watts to be dropped after Sydney. Interesting quote re the discussion about Welsh's recent ill considered comments in the press: 'Expectations have stayed high behind closed doors, while much of the discussions about standards expected of players have been private, not public. And the Demons' players have responded. '

Yep i reckon the Casey Demons would work. Of course the scorps may not be keen (or KC for that matter) but there seems to be some doubt about their viability even with money from MFC so one wonders what would happen to them if we pulled out. The Casey Demons based in that region would ensure the work we have done in that area can continued to be built on.

Herein lies the rub. They are not a development squad for the MFC - they are a stand alone football team that has an affiliation with the MFC. I assume their board, fans and coach want to win as many games as possible and ultimately flag. And fair enough. I doubt that lot would be prepared to lose every game if it meant an improved MFC. It is why we need a stand alone team.

Both points are accurate. Bolton bought into the Clarkson game plan and apparently has very similar coaching philosophies. According to one article i read today about Bolton steeping up he really helped forge a better working connection between the two sides, implying it wasn't great beforehand. So its's possible for an affiliated club situation to work but as you note it has to be managed effectively. However i suspect that is easier said than done given there are two separate boards, staff, coaching teams etc. Having our own team would be far better IMO.

.. meaning Cook was twice as good

I'm with you Grapeviney. I reckon Carlton would have smashed us. We played our GF

Fair dinkum Satry you must be joking. Your posts on this matter are so hypocritical that i can only conclude you are deliberately baiting other posters ie trolling. I simply do not believe you really think it is ok for Welsh to publicly slag of players, particularly given your hyper sensitivity to any criticism of players on this site. I can only conclude you are trying to wind people up (ie trolling), something you have repeatedly admitted to enjoying. It makes it hard to take your views seriously, which is a shame because some of your posts can be quite insightful and your training reports are mostly enjoyable (though at times grating in a look at me kind of a way). I have previously said i was going to put you on ignore but have not done so. I'm going to rectify that now as your bad is outweighing your good and i dislike trolls. I think i'll just choose to view your training reports and save myself the angst of reading posts like the ones littered through this tread. Ciao baby

I'm staggered with posters who don't see a problem with Welsh's comments (as opposed to his opinion). Again perhaps he was misquoted but he seems to have form. It is simply not on a coach publicly singling out a a player for such direct criticism as he has done in that article with Gergiou. Not on. Did the posters who think his comments are ok learn nothing from Neeld or in indeed from how Roos goes about things. Look at how Roos reacted to the WC loss. He too was seething - but did he single out any players? Of course not. What senior coach in this day and age (as opposed to the hoary 70's) would? They would be rightfully lambasted in the media if they did. Coincidence that our form has improved since the WC game? No. Casey are a separate side so it is not the MFC call on who caoches them. However no doubt we exert an influence and despite what Arrow has said about the players liking him such stupid public comments mean that it is unlikely he will coach Casey next season.

Just stalking from the outside

I agree titan. Now that gws is in the league footy needs them to be successful

I was travelling and across in Perth and came back for this game (and the chance of finals). How could i not? The doggies game was awesome. In my recollection the Hawks - Cats game (which was at Kardina Park - a fortress even then) finished after our game and there were thousands of dees fans still standing in groups after we won waiting for the Hawks game to finish. I was in a clump at the railway end. Lets not talk about the prelim.

I know. I was joking

that was a joke?

I think the thing in kirks favour is he has done time as an assistant (2 years). Two more under roos would give him a good grounding, whereas someone like long would very light on for experience - a fact, to his credit, he has acknowledged. Won't hurt kirk's chances that he has an existing relationship with roos and no doubt is a firm believer in the game plan.

not sure about Crawley up forward but howe has to stay back. Roos has found a perfect role for him

dunny is french for impassable. Pronounced dooonee

Only the true seer denies their insight and vision. He is a seer, he is a seer! Hogan is gone!

Yep good point. I wonder if this is also an opportunity to reinforce to the fans what the club expects of its players and what its game plan is.

Yes Roos and other coaches have said that or a variation of it (eg need to bang the door down, string 5-6 top games together, need to be consistent etc etc) a number of times.I suppose its not rocket science but is a really interesting philosophy and no doubt has a big impact on the culture. The more usual approach i would have thought is drop players from the seniors when their form is poor, even if there isn't a player in the maggos who's form demands a spot. One key outcome is that the team is very settled. I think i read we have used the least number of players of any club. It also means that players coming for injuries are generally going to be in form. Another tick for the culture Roos is trying to build.

Very ambient. A bit annoying actually

Absolutely right call as we want to maximise the chances of beating Collingwood. Logical and pragmatic. I'm bemused that some DL posters thought we should go to the tribunal and risk the extra week. Nice to get a quiet protest in though and one of the advantages Roosy has with his slot on 360 as he said much the same thing on Monday night (before the decision had been formally reached and conveyed to the AFL though he implied they were not going to challenge it). Ridiculous that it was medium impact. Should have got a reprimand at worse.

As good as spot as any to put this. Just watched the Roos Season review part 1 on Deetv. Roos is asked about his future. He says believes a succession plan is the way to go and mentions coaching two to three years a number of times. However right at the end he say's something along the lines of - ' 3 years coaching will see me out' . I reckon we 'll get 3 years with Roos as head coach, then a transition to an acolyte with much the same game plan and approach, with Roos staying at the club in some other role. Link: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2014-05-22/roos-mid-season-review-part-1

I had a laugh thinking of the players doing a skit taking off Neeld. Both of the skit itself (there be lots of manic eye squinting, crazy rants, reality buses and no talk whatsoever of the dreaded w word) and of the reaction of Neeld sitting in the audience.

Absolutely. I'll give Welsh the benefit of the doubt on his comments - perhaps he was misquoted or taken out of context. But if not his comments belittled the MFC players and betrayed their confidence if indeed some had come to him wanting to know what they had to do to get into the seniors. Allison's review in no way justify Welsh's alleged comments. Yes they reflect what he said about lack of defensive pressure and errors but the reviews are measured and free of angst. Of course Welsh has a right to be angry if players make repeated errors but his alleged comments were personal and not constructive and i would have thought made clear a distinction between the MFC players and the Casey players when in fact when they pull on the Scorps jumper they are a team. Such public dissing of one group of players does nothing to reinforce the team mentality. Arrow if you are reading this i'm pleased the players seem to respect and like Welsh but the player you spoke to talked about a post match address IIRC. The quote from Welsh was form an interview he gave (when apparently seething) and I reckon there's every chance the player hadn't read the quotes given it was buried away in the paper and lots of players probably don't bother reading everything (unlike us tragics). I can't imagine a -player would be too rapt reading Welsh's comments (even if misquoted or taking out of context) as the MFC players come of as a bunch of spoiled whingers.